WoW: Forever stress test on October 21: how to join
Blizzard moved the server stress test to October 21. Anyone with a WoW account can play — no subscription needed. After the test everything is wiped.
Source: Blizzard Forums ↗
What is happening
Blizzard will run a server stress test for World of Warcraft: Forever on October 21 — the date was moved from October 19 and confirmed in an update on October 16. For a few hours the game will run on the regional production hardware it will use at launch, and everyone is invited to help put the servers under load.
Schedule
- Europe: (19:00 CEST)
- Americas and Oceania: (2:00 p.m. PDT)
- Taiwan:
- Korea:
The beta realms go offline shortly before the test starts and are expected to come back shortly after it ends. The test window may finish earlier or run longer as needed.
Who can join
Anyone with a WoW account. No active subscription, Game Time, invitation, or beta access is required.
How to join
- Update your graphics drivers.
- Open the Battle.net desktop app and let it update if prompted.
- Select World of Warcraft and, in the Game Version menu above the Play button, choose World of Warcraft: Forever Stress Test under In Development, then Install.
- Once the test begins, press Play and pick an available test realm.
- Create a test character, enter the game and join the test.
Bring your friends and rally your guild — the more players online, the more useful the test.
What to do during the test
Make a character, do a few quests, trade items, chat and group up with others to really put the game through its paces. Blizzard frames the test as a chance to discover issues that would otherwise have happened on launch day.
Wipe at the end
When the stress test is over, all characters, names and guilds are deleted — a complete wipe. The beta realms reopen after the test.
The wipe clears the way for Name Reservations opening October 27: players who pre-purchased the Skyborne Heroic Pack, Skyborne Epic Pack or the limited-time Warcraft Forever Collection get Early Name Reservation from October 27 through November 3, first-come, first-served.
What it means for site statistics
The stress test runs on separate test realms, so beta statistics on this site are not affected. After your next game session the usual SavedVariables upload keeps the player counts up to date.